Hammer, Premium, and Why the Reported Price Is Usually Wrong
Almost every headline art price is one of two different numbers, and the article rarely says which. The gap between them is routinely a quarter of the total.
In short
- Hammer is what the bidding reached. The premium is the buyer's fee on top.
- Press reports mix the two constantly, producing two 'prices' for one lot.
- Premium is tiered and can exceed a quarter of the hammer at lower levels.
- Records are normally quoted with premium; estimates are always without it.
Two numbers, one lot
When the hammer falls, the bidding has reached a figure. That is the hammer price, and it is what the seller's side of the arithmetic works from. The buyer then pays the hammer plus the buyer's premium, a percentage the house charges on top. The total is what the buyer actually hands over.
Both numbers are legitimate. They answer different questions. Confusion arises because headlines quote whichever is larger or whichever the press release led with, and almost never label it.
What that does to the record
The Maine panel sold in 2024 as a possible Rembrandt was reported at roughly 1.2 million dollars by some outlets and 1.41 million by others in the same week. Both figures came from the same sale. One is the hammer, the other the total.
The 1666 Frans Post view found in a Connecticut barn is cleaner because the reporting happened to give both: six million at the hammer, 7.3 million with fees. That is a difference of 1.3 million dollars on one lot, which is more than most paintings sold that day made in total.
Estimates are always ex-premium
Pre-sale estimates never include the premium. So a lot estimated at one million and reported as having made 1.25 million has not beaten its estimate at all; it has sold at the low estimate, and the reader has been shown a premium-inclusive total against an ex-premium expectation.
This is the most common numerical error in art reporting, and it consistently makes the market look stronger than it is.
Currency adds a third figure
For a sale in one currency reported in another, the conversion date matters. The Canaletto that made 31.9 million pounds in July 2025 was reported as 43.8 and 43.9 million dollars, and elsewhere as 37.8 million euros. None of those is wrong; they are conversions made on different days.
The sound practice is to record the result in the currency of the sale and treat every conversion as derived.
Questions
Both, labelled. If only one is available, say which it is. Records are conventionally quoted with premium.
It is tiered, highest on the lowest bands and falling on the portion above each threshold, so the effective rate on a very expensive lot is lower than on a cheap one.
Often, though for major consignments it is frequently negotiated away or reversed through a guarantee arrangement.